February 2014 Meeting

On February 25, Randi, Rita, Dawn, Linda, Margie, Tricia, and Helen met at Helen's house. Helen made a hearty, delicious beef barley soup for supper, which was accompanied by bread (jalapeno cheese, I think) from Rita and salad from Dawn. Later, Randi served ice cream sandwiches made from Girl Scout Cookies for dessert. It was great to be together again, but we missed Peggy and Ellie.

Next Meeting:  Tuesday, March 25 at Helen's
Food:   Linda - main dish;   Randi - salad;  Tricia - dessert.

Down to Business

We all acknowledged that 2013 was a slow year for the Bees with no particular activities or projects taking place. After that much needed break, it seems as though we are all on-board for renewal starting with a change in the way we conduct our meetings. Beginning in February, the Bees will rotate the duty of running the monthly meetings. Dawn volunteered to chair the March meeting, and she will demonstrate the "blendable curves" technique. We haven't worked out the details, but either we will come up with a scheduled rotation or we will just ask for a volunteer each month to run the next meeting.

Donation Project

We also agreed that we would like to take on both a club project and a donation project this year, and we started brainstorming some ideas. Margie will look into the Eagle Valley Children's Home to see what their needs might be. Tricia mentioned the Alzheimer's lap quilt project that Dawn has made quilts for in the past. Linda told us about a young woman she knows (a friend of her son) who has cystic fibrosis and is trying to raise money for a lung transplant. We discussed the idea of making an auction quilt for her; apparently she is well connected with cystic fibrosis organizations and probably would be able to raise significant funds from that type of donation. We also discussed the possibility of making two quilts -- one to donate and one for her -- all just ideas at this point. We will continue to discuss and make a decision, hopefully at the next meeting.

Club Project

Regarding a club project, Linda had the idea of having our own quilt show. Possible venues include St. Mary's in Virginia City and the Dini Art Center in Yerington. Tricia mentioned that Peggy had brought up the idea of maybe having a small quilt show for the residents of Sierra Place, the assisted living complex where their mother lives. Again, these ideas are just brainstorming at this point. Hanging of the quilts is a major consideration.

Show and Tell

Dawn finished the "blendable curves" quilt for her sister.

Linda made auction items for her bee-keeping group, the Mason Valley Bee Keepers. It's hard to see, but these items are made with really cute bee fabrics.

     

Randi and Helen finished their memory box quilts from our club project in 2012. Randi actually made two -- this one is the "dark" color version.

  

Tricia made a purse.

Rita showed two of the eight pieces she challenged herself to make as a commitment to her students to help keep them motivated.

  

November 2013 Photos

October 2013 Meeting

We met on Tuesday, October 22 at Helen's house. Peggy, Rita, Dawn, Ellie, Randi, and Tricia attended the meeting. Helen was on a trip to Apple Hill with her husband and arrived after dinner. Thank you, Helen, for letting us meet at your house and for getting everything ready for us!

Dinner was Dawn's delicious chili with jalapeno cheese bread, healthy kale salad, and chocolate cake for dessert. With such a small group, we spent quite a bit of time discussing family issues; several of us are dealing with elderly parents and illnesses of our family members. During these times, we have come to rely on our sister Bees for support and understanding.

Next Meeting

*** Tuesday, November 26 at Helen's ***

Food: Tricia - main dish;  Rita - salad;  Randi - dessert

Business Meeting

It seems as though we don't have much in the way of business these days. Randi received a thank-you letter from one of her DragonLord children that was addressed almost two years ago in January 2012. Better late than never!

Lori Whitworth's son, Nick, sewing machine repairman extraordinaire (who used to work at Sierra Sewing) is starting his own business in Sparks. He dropped by to deliver two machines he had been working on for Helen and Ellie. Helen says he is the only person she trusts to service her machines. Nick's phone number is 775-303-0823, and the address of his business is 280 Gregg St., Unit 4 in Sparks. Call first to schedule drop off at his shop. Basic service is $99.

Christmas Party

The Christmas Party meeting is changed from the fourth Tuesday to the third Tuesday, which is December 17. We will do our usual $10 gift exchange.

We discussed doing a red/green/gold theme. Food ideas are as follows, but of course are not set in stone:

•  Rita - gnocchi
•  Peggy - pesto (pesto what? Maybe to go with the gnocchi. Sorry, no notes.)
•  Dawn - pumpkin muffins, coleslaw
•  Helen - chile verde
•  Randi - green salad
•  Tricia - salsa, sparkling cider, spritz cookies

Show and Tell

None this month.

September 2013 Meeting

The Bees met on Tuesday, September 24 with everyone except Rita attending. For dinner, we had delicious meatballs from Linda served over sweet, healthy spaghetti squash. Dawn made a tomato cucumber salad and garlic bread. Margie brought beautiful spice cupcakes swirled with thick cream cheese frosting, which were served with butter pecan ice cream.

Next meeting: Tuesday, October 22 at Helen's house

Food: Dawn - main dish;    Helen - salad;    Peggy - dessert

We had no business to discuss at the meeting, but we talked a bit about the Shop Hop. Randi did the whole thing and thought the new shop in Portola was a great addition. Several of the other Bees visited selected shops near their homes. We spent some time discussing our experiences, with nothing exceptional noted. It doesn't appear that any of the Bees won a prize this year. 

Show & Tell

Dawn had to leave before dark because she only had her sunglasses to drive with, so during dinner she showed us her "bathroom" wall hanging, which matches the color of the new granite counter in her bathroom.

Tricia showed her memory box quilt. She had good luck quilting Jill Schumacher-style with a 12-inch stencil that complemented the blocks nicely. She is also tickled with the $1.00/yard backing fabric she got at Mill End. Such a deal!

Randy made even more placemats for her son and daughter-in-law's Fiestaware. 

Margie finished the "humbug bag" that Randi got in the gift exchange at last year's Christmas party. The gift included the fabric, pattern, and Margie making it. 

Margie also finished a table topper. This is the second month in a row that Margie has shared a show-and-tell project!

Peggy had a productive month. First she showed a wall hanging made from a kit she bought in Hawaii several years ago. The instructions for the kit were in a magazine but in a different colorway, and they didn't seem to work with her kit. She called the shop in Hawaii, and the quilt designer was able to send Peggy more detailed instructions.

Peggy is getting ready for Christmas with a beautiful embroidered silk table runner. The finish and sheen of the fabric is far more beautiful than the photo. She also made a Welcome wall hanging to try out the technique of snipping the dense satin stitching to make it fluffy. 

Linda showed a wall hanging from a project she made in a Jill Schumacher workshop. 

In her Ditchstitchers group, she also made a quilt for children's hospice.

Linda made a square for her sister using fabric from their mother's clothing. It features a crow, which is a special creature to her sister. 

August 2013 Meeting

Hello, Bees! I have my notes from August, and I'm finally remembering to update our blog, although the information might be sketchy. Here goes!   --Tricia

Attending the meeting were Margie, Linda, Randi, Peggy, Helen, Dawn, Rita, and Tricia. Tricia made a tasty enchilada casserole from a recipe in the Food Network magazine. Peggy made a spinach and strawberry salad. For dessert, Rita brought biscotti made by her mother and Randi brought banana bread. 

Next meeting will be on September 24 with Dawn volunteering to bring the entire dinner. 

The only business we discussed was the Shop Hop, which nobody is planning to do this year, although some of the Bees plan to visit the shops nearby where they live. In fact, Dawn said that she is specifically setting aside the time it would take to do the Shop Hop to sew instead!

Show & Tell

Linda made place mats out of "block of the month" blocks she made at Windy Moon about 5 years ago. Randi liked that idea so much that she made some, too. The colorway of her blocks is a perfect match for her son and daughter-in-law's Fiestaware dishes, and Randi likes them so much she's having a hard time giving them away!

Peggy showed a cute Christmas tree wallhanging she made in a class using a special "square in a square" ruler. 

Helen showed us the "Family Album" quilt she made for her daughter featuring "The Ghastlys"! How cute and clever, and Helen says every one of her family members is represented somewhere on the quilt, including her cat!

Margie finished the "Labyrinth" quilt she started in a class at Windy Moon. She used this project to play with color, and it's also her first free-motion quilting. 

Rita took a class from Nancy Ryan at Fabric Chicks and made a stunning "impressionist-style" art quilt.

July 2013 Meeting

Everyone was present and accounted for at the July meeting! With vacations and various family obligations, it had been months since we'd all been able to attend, so it was great to get to catch up and all be together again. We enjoyed a scrumptious dinner of chicken salad sandwiches, which Margie re-created from a dish served at a favorite restaurant, and Linda brought a tasty and healthy kale salad to go with them. Later during the meeting, we enjoyed key lime pie ice cream sandwiches from Randi -- yum! That was a surprise taste to bite into.

Next Meeting

*** Tuesday, August 27 at Helen's ***

Food has not yet been decided.

Meeting

Again, we didn't have business to discuss, so instead we celebrated Linda's induction into Medicare. She showed us her card and ran us through the process of signing up online. That reminded Tricia of how excited she was to get a lifetime senior pass to the National Parks for only $10.00 on her recent trip to Yellowstone. So many benefits to being a senior citizen -- sigh...

 

Then, to continue the festive spirit, and maybe just to be silly, Linda shared with us a hilarious game for which she had brought the necessary equipment, consisting of toilet paper rolls and toilet plungers. Let's just say it would be hard to describe, but here is a video of some people (thankfully not the Bees) playing the game.

We adjourned to a park across the street from Helen's house and gave it a go (except for the party poopers Dawn and Ellie). We didn't draw a crowd, but we noticed a few passers-by surreptitiously edge closer to see what we were doing. That gave us a good laugh, and we even got a little exercise. By common agreement, no photos of that activity will be posted. 

Show & Tell

Peggy made trick-or-treat bags for her grandchildren. 

Randi's Helen made a very cute tote bag from the quilted bedspread samples we received last year. We all agreed that was an exceedingly creative and clever way to use the samples. Randi asked if anyone had more of the samples in that particular design, and no one knew for sure. Tricia later discovered that she has some and will try very hard to remember to bring them to the next meeting. 

Linda finished a quilt she started five years ago for the mother of a 16-year old boy named Drew who was killed in a car crash. The quilt is made entirely of the young man's T-shirts, which clearly portray a picture of his life and interests. What a brave and compassionate project for Linda to take on. Although the pain of such a tragedy will never go away, we all hope that with the of passing of time, this quilt will be a comfort to the young man's mother.

June 2013 Meeting

The meeting was held on June 25 at Helen's house with Ellie, Helen, Rita, Randi, Linda, Tricia, Peggy, and Margie attended the meeting. Helen and Ellie made scrumptious tostadas, and Randi brought a fruit salad that everyone raved about. It turns out that her secret ingredient is a little bit of cinnamon, which really brings out the fruit flavors and, surprisingly, goes particularly well with watermelon. Who knew!?

Next meeting: July 23 at Helen's. Margie will bring chicken salad sandwiches, which are a re-creation from a favorite restaurant (sorry, I don't have the name or location of the restaurant, but I think it's a place she visited on vacation). Linda will bring a salad and Randi will bring dessert.

Meeting

We really didn't have any business to discuss, but Rita mentioned that Donna Greenwald, a well known art quilter, is starting an Art Quilt Club at Fabric Chicks. I checked on Fabric Chicks' website and didn't find any information, but hopefully Rita will keep us updated.

This is a quiet year with every Bee just doing her own thing. Just a reminder that our only "goal" is to finish up our memory box quilts from last year and bring them to the Christmas party meeting in December.

Show & Tell

Peggy's quilt, called "Go Bloom," was accepted into the American Quilters Society's quilt challenge. It will start in Paducah, Kentucky and then travel to shows throughout the country for a year.

Peggy showed her "cruise quilt," which was designed by one of the McCall's magazine staff as a special project for the cruising quilters. It is certainly colorful and evokes memories of Caribbean. Great job, Peggy, in finishing up that project in such a timely manner.

Instead of attending this year's sewing expo and adding more fabric to her stash, Peggy pulled out a collection she purchased at an expo several years ago and made a log cabin throw for her couch. This was Peggy's first log cabin project, and she had a great time arranging the blocks to form a pleasing design.

 

Rita finished her sweatshirt jacket and got buttons for it at the sewing expo in Reno. She is having a hard time deciding which button to use and how to do the closure. Of course the Bees all had great ideas to share with her. She also finished a wall hanging for one of her friends. It quotes a Bible passage from Jeremiah, who is known as the "weeping prophet."

 

Linda finished baby quilts for boy and girl twins. What a great idea!

Randi completed the quilting and binding of a quilt top made by her granddaughter Zoe. Surprise, surprise -- this is another project made from those infamous 6-inch squares. Zoe designed and made the quilt top herself when she was 10 years old; she is now 13. That just goes to show that we quilters don't really forget about our projects, we just get sidetracked.